Ran across a study that points out that the agribusiness payments made by farmers in Canada have consumed at least 100% of all farm net profit, and in some cases more than 100% - farmers have had
to make pay to keep farming their land after all the profit was gone, between 2006 and 2009.
Who is taking the farmers money? Agribusiness. Those folks who sell you the improved seed and the better-weed-spray and the computerized tractor and all of the other stuff that makes farming easier have figured out how to basically take every cent from the farmers for the last 32 years.
What do the farmers live on? Primarly the subsidy offered by the Canadian government. Without that subsidy these farmers would have been out of business long ago.
I'm all for progress, and I'm all for efficiency, but I can't pay more than all of my income and still be a farmer. Could you?
You'll find the study here:
5 weeks ago
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3 comments:
Interesting. I'd have to quibble and maybe rephrase it differently, that all of the subsidies go to agribusiness. If you were to take the subsidies away the food would still get grown, the farmers can't make less so the agribusiness companies would have to take less.
If you grow commodities, the big companies have figured it out where they control all of the inputs required for modern mechanized farming, and also control the market for commodities, and capture all of the profit. The farmer is left with the least profitable, riskiest, and most physically dangerous parts of the business.
It's a pretty good deal when all of the profit goes to you and very little of the risk, and none of the work. Why it's almost as if the corporations serving farmers could care less about them and their wellbeing, instead focusing solely on their shareholders.
Why it's almost as if corporations could care less about their customers and their wellbeing, instead focusing solely on their shareholders.
FTFY...
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